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Rev. Cary M. Richert

The Day of Pentecost (C)

May 27, 2007

THE SPIRIT OF PEACE

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (NIV)

          Today presents us with an interesting duality as God’s people.  As citizens of the kingdom of God, we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, the day on which we commemorate Jesus pouring out the gift of His Holy Spirit upon His disciples.  As citizens of the kingdom of Caesar, the kingdom of the world, we celebrate Memorial Day, a time during which we remember the men and women of our Armed Forces who sacrificed their lives in pursuit and defense of the liberty and democracy we’re blessed to have.

          At His Ascension Jesus promised He would send believers the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Ascension wasn’t, however, the only time Jesus spoke to His disciples about sending the Spirit.  Shortly after celebrating His Last Supper and instituting the Sacrament of Holy Communion, Jesus pointed to the coming of the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father (would) send in (Jesus’) name, (who would) teach (the disciples) all things and (would) remind (them) of everything (Jesus had) said to (them).

          Jesus was speaking of the coming Holy Spirit … the Spirit of power … the Spirit of peace.  We live in a troubled world that thirsts for peace … peace between one another and personal inner peace.  It’s reflected, for instance, in some of our old pop music.  Remember Cat Stevens’ “Peace Train”?  Tommy James’ “Crystal Blue Persuasion” (which, by the way, he says was based on the imagery of the New Jerusalem in the book of Revelation!)?  John Lennon’s “Imagine”?  And the ever-popular “Let There Be Peace on Earth”?  All songs that reflect an idealistic longing for the kind of peace on earth goodwill toward men many think the angels meant when they announced Jesus’ birth to shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night in the fields of Bethlehem.

          How strange it was, then, that some 30 years later Jesus Himself said:  Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I did not come to bring peace, but a sword [Matthew 10:34]!   On the one hand Jesus did come to bring peace but, on the other hand, as He taught His disciples and us, not the kind of peace that’s given by the fallen world in which we now live, a world which is in bondage to sin and death … a world that groans for the time when God will make all things new [Romans 8].

          Dr. Phil has suggested that you can find inner peace by finishing all the things you’ve started and never finished in life.  To which one person said: I looked around my house to see all that I started and never finished.  This morning I started finishing them off:  a bottle of Merlot, a package of Oreos, the rest of the cheesecake, Doritos and chocolates, and my Prozac.  Wow!  Do I feel good!

          Perhaps you think that you’d find more peace in your life if only you had a little more money … a little less that ails your body … a child that made better choices.  We all seem to have our share of worldly circumstances that cause us anxiety, tension, anger, fear, hopelessness … and a host of other physical and emotional responses that don’t look anything like peace.  In this fallen world there will always exist an epidemic of brokenness, loneliness, despair, violence, immorality, disease, and countless other manifestations of the sin and death that pervades it.  Where’s the peace that singers have been singing about for centuries … peace that appears to be so elusive?  In this life it doesn’t exist!

          The peace our Lord speaks of in today’s Gospel Reading is found only in His blood shed on the Cross of Calvary for our sins.  Only by faith and trust in His redeeming grace can we possess the peace of God that passes all human understanding.  As the apostle Paul wrote:  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. [Romans 5:1-2]

          Peace with God is His gift to us, a heavenly peace that we receive and enjoy by faith alone in Jesus, through whom we poor, miserable sinners are now reconciled to God.  His cleansing of our souls by the blood of His only-begotten Son puts us in good standing with Him.  The complete well-being, strength and inner rest of our souls, which are in perfect fellowship with God, is the peace that’s ours in Christ … peace that the world can’t give … peace that Jesus delivers to us through His promised Spirit of peace, working through our Lord’s holy Word and Sacraments.

          Many have sacrificed their lives to secure and defend our liberty as a nation.  To them we say, Thank You from the depth of our hearts.  We honor you and your sacrifice especially today.  The strength of our military is second to none.  We draw a sense of security and peace from that.  Yet, as WWII General Omar Bradley observed:  We’ve grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  Man is stumbling blindly through spiritual darkness, while toying with the precarious secrets of life and death.  The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience [as cited by Carl  V. Jones, “Have You Claimed Your Inheritance?” in Pulpit Helps (April 2002), 20].

          The fountain and source of true peace isn’t a powerful military, or treaties signed by powerful nations, or the good will of sinful mankind.  The fountain of true, lasting and eternal peace is Jesus Christ, who came to bring peace – peace between sinful man and the holy and righteous God, as well as peace among people.  Yet, Christ’s coming also produced an inevitable conflict:  conflict between Him and all that wars against Him, conflict between spiritual light and darkness, conflict between truth and lies.

          Shortly after speaking the words of our text to His disciples Jesus embarked on a mission to fight for our peace … to war against the prince of darkness and his evil forces … to conquer for us our greatest enemies: sin, death and the power of the devil.  Jesus became sin for us.  He shed His blood.  He died.  Satan appeared to own the victory.  Jesus was in the grave.  The battle was over.  Or was it?

          Christ rose from the grave!  He conquered death!  The victory is His!  The tomb was empty.  The war was won.  That was Peter’s message to an international crowd who heard it on the first Pentecost, each in their own language.  It’s a message that we need to hear over and over.  It’s the message of forgiveness, salvation, reconciliation and true peace – peace, not as the world gives … but peace as only Christ can give to us through the Spirit of peace.  A peace that enables each of us as God’s children to weather the storms and challenges of our lives, trusting in His promises … a peace that enables us to ride the real “peace train” … and live in peace with one another [1 Thessalonians 5:13].